There are many variations of restraint, I think, but this is a quality I do not see very often in the world right now.
What I do see,
instead,
are responses and reactions that are
not reasoned,
but reflex.
A human being sees one variable,
and instantly assumes 7 more.
Or 17 more?
Or 7 times 77?
They read a comment,
or overhear a conversation,
and from just one piece of data
build an enormous architecture of assumptions.
Without asking directly.
Without being genuinely curious.
Without being open to learn something new or previously-unknown.
Without being willing to consider the potential validity of another perspective.
Without humility.
Without goodwill.
Without Grace.
With,
often,
SO MUCH:
So much suspicion.
So much hostility.
So much aggression.
Instead of just a little bit of …
restraint.
It takes almost no time to react.
It only takes a moment more to recognize what is reflex.
Just a moment can be enough to hesitate,
and to remember the opportunities offered to us by restraint:
the abundance of discovery,
of surprise,
of ideas,
of sustained and cordial relationship with each other.
Restraint.
I do not see it all that often.
I would like to see it more.